Spicy Bits

It’s been announced that after 30 years, Dierdorf & Hart’s Steakhouse will be closing its doors in Westport Plaza. Since opening in 1983, the establishment has served as a go-to meeting place for many a business deal and countless special occasions for local families. The restaurant was locally owned and operated by former football greats DAN DIERDORF and JIM HART, and managing partner LOU GARESCHE. Lunch service ended last week, and dinner service will continue until Saturday, May 18.

Farmington, Mo., native NATHANIEL REID has been tapped as the new pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis, replacing SIMONE FAURE, who left a while back to open La Patisserie Chouquette in Tower Grove. Among many other accolades, Reid was named one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America by Dessert Professional magazine last year. A Mizzou grad, Reid also graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris with a Grand Diploma in Culinary and Pastry Arts. Most recently, he served as pastry chef for Norman Love Confections in Fort Meyers, Fla.

Chef CARL HAZEL has left his post as executive chef at Eleven Eleven Mississippi. Co-owner PAUL HAMILTON tells us chef WADE WALLER, who was previously sous chef at Eleven Eleven and Vin De Set, will helm the kitchen. The restaurant's menu recently got a spring makeover and Waller will be doing some further tweaking of it in the near future. Look for a new bill of fare this summer.

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company opened its doors just a couple of years ago and has already revealed plans for an expansion--a big one. The company is in the planning stages of a new, significantly larger production brewery at the former Renard Paper Company at 4465 Manchester Ave. in The Grove. UCBC is partnering with local sustainable real estate firm Green Street St. Louis to renovate the 70,000-square-foot space. The new project is expected to cost some $10 million and will increase the brewery's annual brewing capacity to 15,000 barrels. Not only is the venture good news for beer lovers, it bodes well for the city at large. The company estimates the new facility will add approximately 10 full-time and 30 part-time jobs within the next two years. Look for the doors to open in early 2014.

Big congrats to culinary evangelist BETH HUCH and her latest venture, STL Culinary Tours, which garnered a mention in the May issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine in a feature on gourmet walking tours.